5/7/2019 PhysicsLAB: 2006 Physics Quiz Bowl (Part 1)

AAPT Quiz
2006 Physics Quiz Bowl (Part 1)
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1. The mass of an object is recorded as m = 2.10 x 104 kg. This mass has been recorded with how
many significant digits?
2 3 4 5 6

2. How tall is a flagpole if the sun is at a 53º angle above the horizon and the shadow is 8.0 meters
long?

A. 4.8 m B. 6.0 m C. 8.0 m D. 10.6 m E. 13.3 m

3. Three students were arguing about the height of a parking garage. One student suggested that to
determine the height of the garage, they simply had to drop tennis balls from the top and time the fall of
the tennis balls.

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Copyright © 1998-2019 If the time for the ball to fall was 1.4 seconds, approximately how tall is the parking garage?
Catharine H. Colwell
All rights reserved
Mainland High School
A. 4.9 m B. 7.0 m C. 9.8 m D. 13.8 m E. 19.6 m
Daytona Beach, FL 32114

4. An arrow is shot from a bow at an angle of 40º from the horizontal at a speed of 24.0 m/s. Ignoring air
resistance, what is the arrow’s maximum height above its launch point?
A. 5.9 m B. 11.9 m C. 16.9 m D. 23.8 m E. 28.8 m

5. Newton’s First Law is based on the experimental work of which person, who rolled spheres down and
up inclines?
A. Galileo B. Christian C. Nicolas D. Count
E. Aristotle
Galilei Huygens Copernicus Rumford

6. An arrow is shot through an apple. If the 0.1 kg arrow changes speed by 10 m/s during the collision
(from 30 m/s to 20 m/s) and the apple goes from rest to a speed of 2 m/s during the collision, then the
mass of the apple must be
A. 0.2 kg B. 0.5 kg C. 0.8 kg D. 1.0 kg E. 2.0 kg

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7. A car has the velocity versus time curve shown.

Which of the following statements regarding its motion is INCORRECT?

A. The car is moving fastest at 2.0 s.
B. The car is at rest at approximately 5.2 s.
C. The car is speeding up from t = 0 to t = 2.0 s.
D. The car has negative acceleration at t = 4.5 s.
E. The car has no acceleration at the instant t = 2 s.

8. A baseball is thrown by a pitcher with a speed of 35 m/s. The batter swings and hits the ball. The
magnitude of the force that the ball exerts on the bat is always
A. zero as it is only the bat that exerts a force on the ball.
B. equal to the gravitational force acting on the ball.
C. larger than the force the bat exerts on the ball.
D. smaller than the force the bat exerts on the ball.
E. equal to the force that the bat exerts on the ball.

9. A deliveryman moves 10 cartons from the sidewalk, along a 10-meter ramp to a loading dock, which
is 1.5 meters above the sidewalk.

If each carton has a mass of 25 kg, what is the total work done by the deliveryman on the cartons to
move them to the loading dock?
A. 2500 J B. 3750 J C. 10000 J D. 25000 J E. 37500 J

10. A firecracker explodes while in flight along a parabolic path and fragments from it travel in all
directions. After the explosion, the center of mass of the firecracker
A. falls directly vertically downward.
B. ceases to exist.
C. lands equidistant from all fragments.
D. has no forces acting on it.
E. continues to move along a parabolic path.

11. The number of seconds from now until the beginning of the next millennium (year 3000) can be
approximated as 10x. What is x?
A. 3 B. 4 C. 10 D. 30 E. 1000

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12. Experimental data are taken. Which of the following statements is correct about the precision and
accuracy of the data?
A. If the data are precise, then the data must also be accurate.
B. If the data are precise, then the data cannot be accurate.
C. If the data are accurate, then the data must also be precise.
D. If the data are accurate, then it is not possible for the data to be precise.
E. The data does not need be either accurate or precise.

13. A rock is dropped from the top of a tall tower. Half a second later another rock, twice as massive as
the first, is dropped. Ignoring air resistance,
A. the distance between the rocks increases while both are falling.
B. the acceleration is greater for the more massive rock.
C. the speed of both rocks is constant while they fall.
D. they strike the ground more than half a second apart.
E. they strike the ground with the same kinetic energy.

14. A book leans against a crate on a table. Neither is moving.

Which of the following statements concerning this situation is CORRECT?

A. The force of the book on the crate is less than that of crate on the book.
B. Although there is no friction acting on the crate, there must be friction acting on the book or
else it will fall.
C. The net force acting on the book is zero.
D. The direction of the frictional force acting on the book is in the same direction as the frictional
force acting on the crate.
E. The Newton’s Third Law reaction force to the weight of the book is the normal force from the
table.

15. A crate of toys remains at rest on a sleigh as the sleigh is pulled up a hill with an increasing speed.
The crate is not fastened down to the sleigh. What force is responsible for the crate’s increase in speed
up the hill?
A. the contact force (normal force) of the ground on the sleigh
B. the force of static friction of the sleigh on the crate
C. the contact force (normal force) of the sleigh on the crate
D. the gravitational force acting on the sleigh
E. no force is needed

16. A scientist in the International Space Station experiences "weightlessness" because

A. there is no gravitational force from the Earth acting on her.
B. the gravitational pull of the Moon has canceled the pull of the Earth on her.
C. she is in free fall along with the Space Station and its contents.
D. at an orbit of 200 miles above the Earth, the gravitational force of the Earth on her is 2% less
than on its surface.
E. in space she has no mass.

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17. A point-like object of mass 2.0 kg moves along the +x-axis with a kinetic energy of 16.0 J. A net
horizontal force acting along the x-axis is applied to the object with the force-position profile shown.

What is the total impulse delivered by the force (units in kg m/s).

A. 40 B. 20 C. 12 D. 10 E. 4

18. A cart is initially moving at 0.5 m/s along a track. The cart comes to rest after traveling 1 m. The
experiment is repeated on the same track, but now the cart is initially moving at 1 m/s. How far does the
cart travel before coming to rest?
A. 1 m B. 2 m C. 3 m D. 4 m E. 8 m

19. A 60.0-kg ball of clay is tossed vertically in the air with an initial speed of 4.60 m/s. Ignoring air
resistance, what is the change in its potential energy when it reaches its highest point?
A. 0 J B. 45 J C. 280 J D. 635 J E. 2700 J

20. A boy jumps from rest straight upward from a flat, stationary concrete surface. The boy, of mass M,
leaves the concrete surface with speed v and his center of mass rises a distance d to the highest point
of the motion. How much physical work did the average normal force of contact (N) between the boy’s
feet and the concrete do on the boy?
A. Nd B. Mv2/2 C. Nd/2 D. Mgd E. 0

21. Which of the following is not one of the seven fundamental SI units using the MKS system?
A. Henry B. Kelvin C. Ampere D. Candela E. Mole

22. During an interval of time, a tennis ball is moved so that the angle between the velocity and the
acceleration of the ball is kept at a constant 120º. Which statement is true about the tennis ball during
this interval of time?
A. Its speed increases and it is changing its direction of travel.
B. Its speed decreases and it is changing its direction of travel.
C. Its speed remains constant, but it is changing its direction of travel.
D. Its speed remains constant and it is not changing its direction of travel.
E. Its speed decreases and it is not changing its direction of travel.

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23. An object m, on the end of a string, moves in a circle on a horizontal frictionless table as shown.

As the string is pulled very slowly through a small hole in the table, which of the following is correct for
an observer measuring from the hole in the table?
A. The angular momentum of m remains constant.
B. The angular momentum of m decreases.
C. The kinetic energy of m remains constant.
D. The kinetic energy of m decreases.
E. None of the above occur.

24. A person tries to balance vertically each of three long uniform cylinders with equal radii on the end of
his finger:

A wood cylinder of mass m and length L with moment of inertia I

A bamboo cylinder of mass m and length 3L with moment of inertia 9I
A concrete cylinder of mass 4m and length 2L with moment of inertia 16I

Which object is the easiest to balance and why?

A. The wood cylinder is easiest to balance because it has the smallest moment of inertia.
B. The concrete cylinder is easiest to balance because it has the largest moment of inertia.
C. The concrete cylinder is easiest to balance because it is the most massive.
D. The bamboo cylinder is easiest to balance because it has the least density.
E. The bamboo cylinder is easiest to balance because it is longest.

25. A monatomic ideal gas at pressure P = 105 Pa is in a container of volume V = 12 m3 while at

temperature T = 50ºC. How many molecules of gas are in the container?
A. 447 B. 2888 C. 6.02 x 1023 D. 2.69 x 1026 E. 1.74 x 1027

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